Yeah, Steven Stamkos made the right choice, all right.
Stamkos, who declined to move to his home town of Toronto in the off-season and instead signed a seven-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, scored twice in his return home Tuesday night. The Lightning ran its record to 5-1 with a 7-3 win over the Maple Leafs.
โI’m sure he’s feeling a little better about his contract situation than he was a year ago,โ said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. โHe’s shooting the puck. When someone of his caliber is shooting the puck, good things are going to happen.โ
The Lightning got its first first-period goal of the season as it raced to a 4-0 lead. The Leafs came within 5-3, but Tampa Bay scored two more to close out the victory.
“We wanted to come out strong, and I think that was the first game where we scored in the first period,” Stamkos said. “So it was something we talked about before was getting out to a good start, especially on the road, it’s always important. It definitely set the tone for the game and put us up.”
For the Bolts, Alex Killorn scored his fifth goal of the year and Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov scored their first. Also, Vlad Namestinov and Jonathan Drouin scored.
Goaltender Ben Bishop had 40 saves โ the Leafs got off 43 shots โ and lost two teeth in taking the win.
The Lightning now travels to Montreal for a Thursday night game against the Canadiens.
